Bible Encyclopedias
Zunz, Leopold

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

Search for…

Enter query below:

or

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Prev Entry
Zuntz, Nathan

Next Entry
Zuph

Resource Toolbox

Print Article

Additional Links

Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Leopold Zunz
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Zunz, Leopold
• Zunz, Leopold Piieinkard
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Zunz, Leopold

Founder of the modern "science of Judaism" and pioneer in the history of Jewish literature, religious poetry, and the ritual of the synagogue; born at Detmold Aug. 10, 1794; died at Berlin March 18, 1886. The genealogy of his family can be traced continuously for three centuries (comp. Kaufmann in "Monatsschrift," 1894, p. 481), and members are known to have been prominent in the Jewish community of Frankfort-on-the-Main, the cognomen "Zunz" being a modification of "Zons," the name of a place on the Rhine.

His Family.

Zunz's father, Mendl Emanuel (b. 1761; d. July 3, 1802), was a "baḥur," or Talmudic student, who earned a precarious livelihood as a teacher at the bet ha-midrash and by giving private lessons in Hebrew and Talmud until a pulmonary affectioncompelled him to relinquish this occupation almost entirely and to conduct a small grocery. His mother, Hendel Behrens (b. 1773; d. Nov. 9, 1809), was also delicate, and died at the age of thirty-six in Hamburg, whither she and her husband had removed the year after Lippmann's birth. Although his constitution was extremely delicate in boyhood, Lippmann outlived not only his twin sister, who died in infancy, but also his other sisters and brothers. His early youth was spent under the clouds of physical discomfort and material poverty. His first teacher was his father, who began to instruct his son in Hebrew verbs, Rashi, and the Mishnah as early as 1799. The father's sudden death was a great blow to the struggling family, and obliged Lippmann to accept a free scholarship in the Samson school at Wolfenbüttel, which he entered just a year after his father died. At this school he attracted the notice of his instructors by his remarkable aptitude for mathematics, though at first he seems to have been little amenable to discipline. The appointment of S. M. Ehrenberg as the director of the school in 1807 marked an epoch in the mental and moral development of the lad. As early as 1805 Zunz had tried his hand at making a key to an elementary text-book on arithmetic, while in 1806 a Hebrew satire from his pen, in which he spared neither teachers nor fellow pupils, was consigned to the flames to atone for the wickedness of its author. Ehrenberg, however, took care that this gifted pupil should pursue his studies methodically, and such was his success that in July, 1810, fifteen months after Zunz had been admitted to the highest grade of the Wolfenbüttel gymnasium (which he was the first Jew to enter), Ehrenberg entrusted to him the temporary supervision of the Samson school. His mother had died in the previous year, and Zunz was thus left without a near relative. His free scholarship was about to expire, moreover, and in order to remain at Wolfenbüttel he began to act as an instructor at the Samson school in return for board and lodging. He was particularly interested in algebra and optics, and perfected his mastery of Hebrew by translating various historical essays from the German and other languages.

Leopold Zunz.

Early Training.

The summer of 1811 is noteworthy as the time when Zunz made his first acquaintance with Wolf's "Bibliotheca Hebræa," which, together with David Gans's "Ẓemaḥ Dawid," gave him his first introduction to Jewish literature and the first impulse to think of the "science of Judaism." In the same year (1811) he proceeded to write a book which he intended to be for Palestine what the "Anacharsis" of Klotz had been for Greece. Though he finished the curriculum of the gymnasium in 1811, his intention of taking up university studies could not be carried out until more than four years had elapsed. He remained at Wolfenbüttel until Sept. 25, 1815, when he set out for Berlin, arriving there Oct. 12, and accepting a tutorship in the Hertz family. At the university, where he matriculated while Schleiermacher was rector, he took up mathematical, philosophical, historical, and philological studies, among his professors being Boeckh, Fr. A. Wolf, Savigny, De Wette, and Wilken, the last two inducting him into Semitics and Biblical branches. In Aug., 1817, he wrote his first sermon. Of far greater importance, as showing the bent of his mind, is the fact that during this period he copied the manuscript of Shem-Ṭob ibn Falaquera's "Sefer ha-Ma'alot" and occupied himself with the study of Hebrew manuscripts from Palestine and Turkey shown him by a Polish Jew named David ben Aaron.

The Foundation of Jewish Science.

In Dec., 1817, he wrote an essay entitled "Etwas über die Rabbinische Litteratur; Nebst Nachrichten über ein Altes bis Jetzt Ungedrucktes Hebräisches Werk." It was published in 1818 ("Gesammelte Schriften," 1:1-31, Berlin, 1875). This little book marks an epoch in the history of modern Jewish scholarship. It is a plea for the recognition of Judaism and its literature in university research and teaching. It exposed the ignorance which marked the books written by non-Jewish scholars on Judaism and the Jews, showing at the same time that Judaism had made valuable contributions to many sciences and therefore had a place in their history. This booklet may be said to have been the first to trace the outlines of Jewish science.

Shortly after writing the book, but before its publication, Zunz resigned his position with Hertz (March 28, 1818) and revisited his home. During this time he was invited to become a candidate for the position of preacher in the Hamburg Temple, and would have obtained it had he not withdrawn upon learning that Büschenthal was willing to accept the call. In June, Zunz returned to Berlin and resumed his university studies, which he completed in 1819, though it was not till Jan. 2, 1821, that he took his degree of Ph.D. at the University of Halle.

The Verein für Cultur der Juden.

In the interval, while privately continuing his studies and eking out a livelihood by tutoring in German, Latin, and mathematics, he founded, together with Eduard Gans and Moses Moser, the Verein für Cultur und Wissenschaft der Juden (Nov. 17, 1819), a society intended "through culture and education to bring the Jews into harmonious relations with the age and the nations in which they live." This association, of which Zunz was the leading spirit, from the very first attracted the best and brightest among the Jews of Germany, including Heinrich Heine, Ludwig Markus, David Friedländer, Israel Jacobson, and Lazarus Bendavid. In 1822 the "Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums," edited by Zunz, appeared under the auspices of this society. According to the program written by Wohlwill, the new "science" comprised a study of the historical development and the philosophical essence of Judaism, although these two methods must be based on a critical understanding of Jewish literature. Zunz's contributions justified this program. In addition to his article on "Hispanische Ortsnamen," mention should be made of his biography of Rashi, which is a veritable classic, illustrating the method which should be pursued, and serving as a brilliant example of what the result must be when all the modern principles of historical and literary research are devoted to a critical study of the data buried in Jewish literature. Another remarkable essay which he published in the "Zeitschrift" was his "Grundlinien zu einer Künftigen Statistik der Juden." The ideas which he there enunciated are by no means antiquated even at this day. The hopes aroused by the Verein were doomed to disappointment, however, and the "Zeitschrift" ceased to appear after the first volume. "Young Palestine," as Heine called the members, lacked religious enthusiasm; Gans became a Christian, and the Verein died. But the "science of Judaism" which it had founded did not share the fate of its first foster-parents, for it lived, thanks to Zunz. "A man of word and deed, he had created and stimulated and brought to pass, while others dreamed and then sank down despondent." As characteristic of him Heine coined the phrase which Karpeles deems so pregnantly descriptive of Zunz's disposition that he repeats it: "he remained true to the great caprice of his soul," believing in the regenerative power of the "Wissenschaft," while the weaker associates of those enthusiastic days deserted, and found preferment by way of baptism.

Marriage and Journalistic Career.

Other grievous disappointments awaited him at this same period. He preached in the so-called "Beer's Temple" (the new synagogue) from May, 1820, to the spring of 1822, receiving toward the end of this epoch a small stipend from the Berlin congregation. He married Adelheid Beermann May 9, 1822, the union remaining childless. Soon after his marriage his position as preacher became distasteful to him, and, feeling that preaching in the face of official arrogance and communal apathy was incompatible with his honor, he resigned his office on Sept. 13, 1822. The masterly sermons he had preached, and which were published in April, 1823, did not treat of specifically Jewish matters. In 1822 Zunz became a member of the editorial staff of the "Haude und Spener'sche Zeitung," giving besides private lessons in the afternoon hours. He was not freed from this irksome task until Jan. 3, 1826, when he entered upon his duties as director of the Jewish communal elementary school. He remained at the head of the school four years; but again feeling that he was not permitted to bring about needed changes, he relinquished his post, disregarding the sacrifices the step entailed for him and his wife, and receiving but slight recognition for his devotion in a nomination to membership on the board of trustees of the Talmud Torah Institute of the congregation. He was doomed to still greater drudgery on the "Spener'sche Zeitung," part of his work consisting in making excerpts and translations from foreign journals.

The "Gottesdienstliche Vorträge."

In 1831 a difference of political opinion with the management induced him to resign. Though fraught with grave economic difficulties for Zunz, this step may be said to have been providential for Jewish literature. In 1825 he had drafted a plan for a work in four divisions on the "Wissenschaft des Judenthums." On Aug. 25, 1828, he paid his first visit to the famous Oppenheim Library, then in Hamburg but now in Oxford. Through Heine he had even begun to correspond with prominent publishers concerning his intended work; but on Oct. 15, 1831, he began to write in earnest, and on July 21, 1832, the "Gottesdienstliche Vorträge der Juden" appeared, destined to be the most important Jewish work published in the nineteenth century. In the preface, which was no less remarkable than the contents, the German authorities were arraigned for their refusal to grant the Jews the justice due them by right and for their reluctance to accord them liberty instead of special rights and privileges. The Jews were entitled to be citizens of Germany. Jewish science too ought no longer to be excluded from governmental patronage, but should have institutions provided for its development. In the synagogues the living word was once more to resound, for the sermon had always been an institution of Judaism. The book afforded the proof, and its purpose was to trace the historic growth of this synagogal institution. This preface was suppressed by the government and cut out from most copies of the first edition. The work itself was a masterly exposition of the gradual growth and evolution of homiletic literature, traced through the Midrash, the Haggadah, and the prayer-book. It was the first book to assign dates and to disclose the relative interdependence of the various documents. Besides showing that the sermon was thoroughly Jewish, the book demonstrated that Judaism had a science which could justly claim equality with the studies admitted to university standing. It proved, furthermore, that Judaism was a growing force, not a crystallized law. Scientific throughout, the book had a powerful influence in shaping the principles of Reform Judaism, especially as applied to the prayer-books. For all time to come the "Gottesdienstliche Vorträge" fixed the method which the literary exploration of Jewish literaturemust follow to a certain degree, even though the merely formal criterion of the mention of a literary document is urged too strongly as decisive in assigning to it its date and place. With this book Zunz rose at once to the pinnacle of recognized leadership. His discriminating insight, his power of combination, his sound scholarship, his classic reserve, and his dignity of presentation proclaimed him master. No second edition of the "Gottesdienstliche Vorträge" was prepared by the author, but it was reprinted after his death (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1892; comp. E. G. Hirsch, "Die Jubiläen Zweier Werke," in "Der Zeitgeist," 1882).

In Prague.

While Zunz's reputation as a pioneer was readily spread abroad by the "Gottesdienstliche Vorträge," no material benefits accrued to him from its publication. In Sept., 1832, he went to Hamburg, where he met H. I. Michael, the owner of rare manuscripts. The old struggle for bread awaited him upon his return to Berlin. He did not receive the appointment as head master of the Veitel-Heine Ephraim foundation as some friends had hoped he would, and he was even unsuccessful in his efforts to obtain employment as a bookkeeper, although willing to accept such a position. He advertised for pupils in Hebrew, rabbinics, and mathematics through the medium of the University Bulletin Board, but again with slight results. His friends proposed him for the vacant post of rabbi at Darmstadt, Aaron Chorin having conferred on him the hattarat hora'ah; but though Gabriel Riesser had recommended him (Oct. 9, 1833) as the first scholar of the day in Jewish literature, he was not elected. In consequence of this he could not be induced to be a candidate for Cassel and other places, though suggestions to apply came to him from various quarters, among them, it is interesting to note, one from New York. He continued to meet his friends on Sabbaths at Gumpertz's, and in 1835 he delivered a course of lectures on the Psalms, attended by Gans, Bellermann (the latter eighty years of age), M. Sachs, Zedner, Moser, and Gumpertz. In the same year he was called to Prague as preacher to the Society for Improving the Mode of Worship, a call which at last promised to deliver him from the drudgery for mere bread. When he arrived at Prague, however (Sept. 16, 1835), it did not require many days to convince him that he had found no compensation for his sacrifice in leaving Berlin. In Prague he met scarcely one that understood him. He thought himself lost "in China." He missed "books, periodicals, men, liberty." He regretted his "Wissenschaft." Before fifty days had elapsed he resolved to leave this city of petrified irresponsiveness. The people misjudged him, and called his firmness stubbornness and his principles eccentricities. His discontent did not help to improve the situation, and on Jan. 1, 1836, he gave notice that he wished to resign. He rejoiced like one delivered from prison when on July 8 he again arrived in Berlin. Soon after his return he found another opportunity of utilizing his scholarship in behalf of his German coreligionists. A royal edict forbade the Jews to assume Christian names. In this predicament the administration of the congregation bethought itself of Zunz, and on Aug. 5 he was commissioned to write a scientific treatise on the names of the Jews based upon original investigations. On Dec. 7, 1836, his "Die Namen der Juden" ("G. S." 2:1-82) was published. It demonstrated that the names which had been classed as non-Jewish were an ancient inheritance of Judaism, and this proof, which rested on indisputable evidence and which was presented with the calm dignity of the scholar, made a deep impression.

Director of the "Lehrerseminar."

Tributes of admiration and gratitude were offered the author from all sides, Alexander von Humboldt being among those who felt impelled to thank Zunz. The congregation itself informed him soon afterward (July, 1837) of its intention of founding a "Lehrerseminar" to be directed by him. This seminary was opened Nov. 16, 1840, after protracted negotiations with Zunz, who became its first director. Even while the preparations for the founding of the normal school were in progress, Zunz had organized a staff of scholars for the translation of the Bible which has since borne his name, he himself acting as editor-in-chief and translating the Book of Chronicles (comp. Jew. Encyc. 3:193). With this entrance upon a secure position, Zunz at last found himself freed from the struggle for existence. Thenceforth he had the leisure to concentrate his energies; his pen was busy enriching periodicals and the works of others with his contributions. Noteworthy among these was a study on the geographical literature of the Jews from the remotest times to the year 1841, which appeared in an English translation in Asher's edition of Benjamin of Tudela (2:230 et seq.). He also gave expert opinions on problems arising from the agitation for Reform, such as "Gutachten über die Beschneidung" (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1844).

Attitude Toward Reform.

Although his "Gottesdienstliche Vorträge" was the very rampart behind which Reform could securely and calmly beat back the attacks of its opponents, Zunz showed little sympathy with the movement, because he suspected its leaders of ecclesiastic ambitions, and feared that rabbinical autocracy would result from the Reform crusade. He regarded much of the professional life of the rabbis as a "waste of time," and in a very late letter (see "Jahrbuch für Jüdische Geschichte," 1902, p. 171) he classed rabbis with soothsayers and quacks. The point of his protest against Reform was directed against Holdheim and the position maintained by this leader as an autonomous rabbi, as is evident from Geiger's answer to Zunz's strictures (Geiger, "Nachgelassene Schriften," 5:184-185). The violent outcry raised against the Talmud by some of the principal spirits of the Reform party was repugnant to Zunz's historic sense, while he himself was temperamentally inclined to assign a determinative potency to sentiment, this explaining his tender reverence for ceremonial usages. His position was by no means Orthodox in the usual sense, however, even in regard to the ritual practises, which he called symbols (see among others his meditation on tefillin, reprinted in "Gesammelte Schriften," 2:172-176), denying them the validity of divine ordinances which thefaithful are bound to observe without inquiry into their meaning. His position accordingly approached that of the symbolists among the reformers who insisted that symbols had their function, provided their suggestive significance was spontaneously comprehensible. He emphasized most strongly the need of a moral regeneration of the Jews.

"Zur Geschichte und Literatur."

Zunz's sympathies with the science of Judaism were too dominant to allow him to lay aside his reserve and take a part in the active endeavors to recast the framework of the Synagogue, but in his chosen field, during this very period of agitation and unrest, he garnered a new harvest. In 1845 he published in Berlin another volume, "Zur Geschichte und Literatur," which comprises studies in all the departments of Jewish literature and life. The introductory chapter is a philosophical presentation of the essence of Jewish literature and its right to existence, its connection with the culture of the peoples among which the Jews have lived, and its bearing upon the civilizations amid which it developed. Zunz makes an earnest protest against the neglect of this literature, and caustically exposes its underlying motives—indolence, arrogance, and prejudice. A rapid survey of the treatment accorded Hebrew books serves as a prelude to the unsparing castigation administered to the conceit of the Christian scholars of the nineteenth century, and as a protest against the outrage perpetrated by the exclusion of Jewish studies from the universities. The volume itself was a proof that Jewish science had a right to citizenship in the academic republic of letters. Apparently disjointed, the various subjects treated in this volume found their unity in the methodical grasp of the author, who made it clear that underlying all these diverse interests was a distinct unity of purpose, the pulse-beat of a life striving for expression and realization. Bibliography, ethics, and culture were among the departments into which the book ushered the student, while long periods of time, of which little had been known or understood, were there set forth in all their bearings and ambitions. Zunz had, indeed, earned the title of the Jewish Boeckh. Under his touch every detached fact appeared as symptomatic of the life of a vitalized organism. Superficially examined, the book seemed to be a collection of incoherent names, dates, and details, but when rightly taken as a whole, it won distinction as the result of studies undertaken to reveal the unifying thought manifest in all the various fragments of information, whether old or new. Once more Zunz had proved his supreme mastership in the wide field of Jewish literature; and that he had also the rare art of popular presentation was shown by the lectures which he delivered in 1842.

The year 1848 brought Zunz an opportunity to utilize his rare gifts of mind, tongue, and heart in the political arena. His oration in honor of the victims of the March uprising in Berlin attracted universal attention to him; and he was chosen elector in the 110th precinct both for the deputy to the Prussian legislature and for the representative in the German Diet. He addressed many a meeting of his fellow citizens, his lucidity of diction, clarity of thought, eloquence of speech, readiness of wit, and thorough familiarity with the subject of the discussion distinguishing him among the many men of parts and power who were his colleagues. He was called to act as vice-chairman (Aug. 9, 1849) and later as chairman (Oct. 4) of the eighth Berlin Volksverein. On Nov. 6 he delivered the memorial address on Robert Blum; and at the same time he strove to reorganize the Jewish community on a liberal basis. He was likewise busy in conferences and private interviews with influential men, endeavoring to carry into effect the emancipation of the Jews; for in 1847 high functionaries of the court and state had sought his opinion on the proposed legislation regulating the status of the Prussian Jews.

The "Synagogale Poesie."

The office of director of the normal school now seemed to him to consume too much of his time, and he severed his connection with this institution on Feb. 25, 1850. A small pension was voted him by the congregation, and assured him the liberty he craved for the completion of the labors which had come to fruition only in part in his "Gottesdienstliche Vorträge." The prayers and prayer-books of Judaism still awaited his presentation, but the material for this purpose was widely scattered in inaccessible manuscripts and distant libraries. Zunz had already gone in Sept., 1846, to the British Museum, and his visit had confirmed him in his plan of writing the history of Jewish hymnology and synagogal poetry as incorporated in the various liturgies of the Synagogue. He soon realized, however, that such a work would fill several volumes, and he accordingly resolved to write first the story of the poetry and then that of the poets. The "Synagogale Poesie des Mittelalters" was published March 2, 1855, and discussed the various kinds of poetry incorporated in the Jewish services, their external forms, their inner motive, and the circumstances, hopes, experiences, and sufferings that had evoked them. To trace the development of the Hebrew language in these monuments of the Jewish spirit was another of the preoccupations of Zunz, who showed, especially in his introductory chapter, that he who woke to new life the Jewish hymnal handled the German tongue with a mastership equaled only by the greatest writers, while his German translations helped to illustrate and vitalize the story. This introductory chapter has, indeed, become a classic, George Eliot deeming its phrases worthy of incorporation in "Daniel Deronda." Under the necessity of abbreviating the services at public worship the piyyuṭim had been attacked for years by those who strove for a reform of the ritual. Zunz's work gave the proof that these hymns were the slow accretion of centuries and were unequal in value. Yet, on the other hand, his book showed what wealth of feeling and fervor of faith lay hidden in these outbursts of lament, penitence, and expectancy. He demonstrated that the jewel-casket of the medieval Synagogue contained many a priceless gem in addition to several of inferior value.

Scientific Journeys.

Zunz now realized that without personal inspection of the manuscripts he could go no further in his history of the poets and the liturgy. On April26, 1855, he set out on his journey of exploration, spending twelve days in the British Museum, twenty in the Bodleian at Oxford, and three in Paris, and inspecting 280 manuscripts and 100 rare books. After paying a visit to Heinrich Heine (June 26-28), he returned on July 4, 1855. In the following year he inspected and excerpted eighty manuscripts in the Hamburg Library (June 18-July 27, 1856), and after his return he resumed his lectures on Jewish literature. In 1856, moreover, he wrote his "Ueber die Eidesleistungen der Juden," a defense of the Jews against the charge of perjury and a protest against the OATH MORE JUDAICO, which appeared in the same year as his "Die Ritus des Synagogalen Gottesdienstes Geschichtlich Entwickelt" (1859). In conciseness of presentation and wealth of content this volume has scarcely a peer. He brought order out of chaos by grouping the several components of the liturgy according to various countries, exhibiting the growth of a liturgical literature developing through two millennia from small beginnings to the final compilations of fixed cycles ("maḥzorim") and rites.

During his studies preparatory to the concluding volume of his monumental work, Zunz continued his activity in public affairs, being entrusted with the presidency of the electoral assembly of his district (April 25, 1862). His main energy, however, was devoted to his scholarly pursuits, and, becoming daily more deeply impressed with the necessity of inspecting the Hebrew collections in Italy, he went to Parma (May 20, 1863), where he examined about 120 codices in the De Rossi Library; but he was not allowed to visit the Vatican. One of the fruits of this Italian trip was his "Hebräische Handschriften in Italien, ein Mahnruf des Rechts." He crowned the labors to which he had consecrated his life by his volume on the "Literaturgeschichte der Synagogalen Poesie," the preface of which is dated Sept. 26, 1865. This was his thanks to the friends who had remembered his seventieth birthday (Aug. 10, 1864) by the founding of the Zunzstiftung, the initiative having been taken by Salomon Neumann. This concluding volume was of the greatest importance not only for the history of Jewish poetry, but also for that of the Jews, revealing the intellectual life of the Jews in Italy, Spain, and Germany. Once more an enormous mass of material was made intelligible as to conditions of time and place, and amorphous detail again assumed shape and function within the circle of correlated circumstance, thus becoming part of a living and growing organism. In 1867 a supplement appeared, adding to the 1,500 poets and their numerous productions, 80 new versifiers and 500 new poems.

The Germany of 1870 found in Zunz as an elector a loyal cooperator in its destiny. In 1872 he raised his voice in his "Deutsche Briefe" in defense of the purity of the German language, menaced by the journalism and vulgarism then rampant. The same year he wrote his "Monatstage des Kalenderjahres," a memorial calendar recording the days on which Israel's great sons and martyrs had died, and giving characteristic details concerning their labors and lives.

Attitude Toward Higher Criticism.

A new field now began to attract his attention, that of Bible criticism; and in his studies on Deuteronomy, Ezekiel, Leviticus, and Esther ("Z. D. M. G." 27:669-689) he reached conclusions diametrically opposed to those deduced by the traditionists and even by the conservatives, proving the untenability of the dogma of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. In his "Gesammelte Schriften" these essays have been reproduced, and others on Exodus, Numbers, and Genesis have been added ("G. S." 1:217-270), proof sufficient that Zunz did not discredit his own studies in spite of the outcry raised against them. In his letters addressed to David Kaufmann he took occasion to declare his indifference toward "babblers and hypocrites." "It is not my business to defend religion, but to defend human rights." "Opinions on books are not subject to the authority of religion." "Why do they not inquire whether it be true or false? Miserable men they who desire not to be disturbed." "My first critical studies go back to 1811, long before Hengstenberg's day and the splendor of other 'critic-astra.'"

The light of his life was now to fail him. On Aug. 18, 1874, his Adelheid, known to their friends as "Die Zunzin" (="female Zunz"), passed away. From this blow Zunz never recovered. His entire literary activity was limited to superintending the publication of his "Gesammelte Schriften." Though the ninetieth anniversary of his birthday was celebrated throughout the world and brought to him messages of love from the four quarters of the globe, even being marked by the publication of a "Zunz Jubelschrift," he felt that few remembered his existence. David Kaufmann alone seems to have succeeded in arousing in him the old interest for Jewish studies; and Steinschneider was perhaps the only one with whom he maintained personal intercourse. His thoughts dwelt with her who had been his companion.

While all parties in Judaism have claimed Zunz for their own, his Bible-critical epilogue to his labors (in a letter to David Kaufmann) justifies the assumption that, if he is to be classified at all, he must be assigned a place with Geiger, with whom he was on terms of closest intimacy, and to whose "Zeitschrift" he was a regular contributor. The end, superinduced by a fall, came on March 18, 1886. To the last he was clear in mind and in the full possession of his faculties.